Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G1/00—Cocoa; Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor
  • A23G1/30—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor
  • A23G1/32—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor characterised by the composition containing organic or inorganic compounds
  • A23G1/36—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor characterised by the composition containing organic or inorganic compounds characterised by the fats used
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G1/00—Cocoa; Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor
  • A23G1/30—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor
  • A23G1/32—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor characterised by the composition containing organic or inorganic compounds
  • A23G1/36—Cocoa products, e.g. chocolate; Substitutes therefor characterised by the composition containing organic or inorganic compounds characterised by the fats used
  • A23G1/38—Cocoa butter substitutes

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an improved chocolate composition.
• it relates to chocolate compositions having improved heat stability and bloom- resistance, to methods of producing such compositions and to products produced therefrom.
• chocolate products - whether in the form of bars, tablets, coatings or other - tend to loose their desired character and shape, to become soft, unsatisfactory and sticky to handle and to loose their gloss (due to leaching of their fat constituents and to both the fats and sugars recrystallising at the surface - known as "blooming").
• the chocolate product will adhere to its packaging and its surface will be marred when the wrapper is removed.
• chocolate is produced by grinding a mixture of cocoa liquor, sugar and milk solids (in the case of milk chocolate) to a desired degree of fineness before incorporating a certain amount of cocoa butter.
• the mixture is then placed in a so-called conching machine (or conge-mixer) in which it is agitated or "worked", providing aeration that allows certain undesired aromas to escape and helping the final chocolate flavour to develop.
• conching machine or conge-mixer
• finishing the sugar and milk solids become completely coated with fat.
• the resulting paste is finally tempered and either formed into a product for sale or stored for subsequent use.
• Cocoa butter is responsible for some of the most important properties of the chocolate product. These properties include its sensory qualities (mouth feel and snap, for instance), its physical behaviour (hardness and shape retention) and its tendency to bloom. Bloom behaviour, in particular, is difficult to predict since its specific causes and mechanisms still remain largely unknown.
• cocoa butter improvers cocoa butter replacers, cocoa butter substitutes and cocoa butter equivalents
• a chocolate composition having a fat phase, wherein said fat phase: - has a slip melting point of at least 27.5°C, preferably of between 30 and 37°C; and
• a chocolate composition comprising adding a fat composition to a cocoa mass, wherein the fat composition comprises at least one modified fat, said at least one modified fat comprising an interesterified fat consisting of interesterified cocoa butter having a slip melting point of 25 0 C to 50 0 C.
• an interesterified cocoa butter to improve the heat stability of a chocolate composition relative to a chocolate composition prepared with only unmodified cocoa butter.
• an interesterified cocoa butter to improve the bloom stability of a chocolate composition relative to a chocolate composition prepared with only unmodified cocoa butter.
• Figure 1 U-tube configuration for melting point determination (according to Method 1 )
• Figure 4 Shape retention results from Example 4 (the red box indicates the original shape of chocolate pieces - left hand column shows reference samples; right hand column shows IE blends).
• the present invention is based on the finding that an improved chocolate composition can be obtained by replacing at least some of the cocoa butter content of a standard chocolate composition with interesterified cocoa butter.
• an improved chocolate composition can be obtained by replacing at least some of the cocoa butter content of a standard chocolate composition with interesterified cocoa butter.
• such a composition has improved heat stability and bloom resistance together with improved sensory properties such as mouth feel compared to products currently on the market.
• chocolate and “chocolate composition” can be used interchangeably. They typically refer to mixtures of cocoa liquor and/or cocoa powder, cocoa butter and/or cocoa butter replacers, equivalents, improvers, and/or substitutes, sugar and/or sugar replacers plus one or more optional ingredients such as emulsifiers, milk solids, milk fats, nuts, nut pastes and flavouring agents. They should not be interpreted as being limited to any particular legal definition of chocolate under cer- tain national regulations. The cocoa butter and other fatty constituents of the chocolate composition will be referred to herein as the "fat phase".
• the fat phase will have a slip melting point of at least 27.5°C, preferably of between 30 and 37 0 C and will include both modified and unmodified fats (with "fat” being used here to refer to both fats and oils).
• a modified fat is a fat whose chemical structure or composition has been changed by some chemical, enzymatic and/or mechanical means.
• An unmodified fat is a fat that still has its original, natural chemical structure and composition, though it may have been extracted/pressed and cleaned or purified. IVIUUlllcu r ⁇ ia
• the modified fats comprised in the present invention will include interesterified fats consisting of interesterified cocoa butter.
• the composition will not include any interesterified fats other than interesterified cocoa butter. It may contain other types of modified fats such modified cocoa butter equivalents (palm oil, illipe oil, shea butter, mango kernel oil, etc.) or anti-bloom fats (such as 1-3 dibehynoyl-2- oleoyl glycerol).
• modified cocoa butter equivalents such as palm oil, illipe oil, shea butter, mango kernel oil, etc.
• anti-bloom fats such as 1-3 dibehynoyl-2- oleoyl glycerol.
• the interesterified cocoa butter will be the only modified fat included in the composition.
• lnteresterification may be carried out by any conventional chemical or enzymatic interesterification process.
• suitable enzymes will be apparent to a person skilled in the art but will preferably be selected from lipase enzymes.
• the enzymes will be immobilised. They will typically be used in an amount of 0.01-10%, preferably in an amount of 0.05-5% by weight immobilised enzyme relative to the total weight of cocoa butter.
• the interesterified cocoa butter may be completely or partially interesterified.
• Partially interesterified cocoa butter is a cocoa butter which has not been allowed to react to achieve its fully converted state for a given set of reaction conditions.
• the cocoa butter will be interesterified by so-called "directed" interesterification.
• Directed interesterification is carried out at a temperature which allows certain components of the cocoa butter to crystallize. This shifts the equilibrium of the process and therefore results in slightly different products.
• modified cocoa butters obtained by directed interesterification will have improved sensory properties, a higher melting point and health benefits relative to modified cocoa butters obtained by other methods.
• the interesterification step may be followed by one or more fractionation steps. Fractionation is typically used to separate components of an oil or fat having different nhysicai properties in particular, it is used to isolate stearins (which are solid) from oleins (which are liquid). By removing oleins from the interesterified cocoa butter, its melting point will be further increased relative to a corresponding unmodified cocoa butter.
• Fractionation methods are well known to those skilled in the art and include, for example, dry fractionation and solvent fractionation (e.g. CO 2 fractionation).
• solvent fractionation e.g. CO 2 fractionation
• the cocoa butter will preferably be fractionated by dry fractionation.
• the modified cocoa butter of the present invention will preferably have a melting point of 25°C to 5O 0 C, more preferably of 30 0 C to 45 0 C, even more preferably of 35 0 C to 40 0 C, when measured according to the slip melting point method set out below (see Method 1 ).
• the slip melting point of unmodified cocoa butter will typically vary from 24 0 C to about 32°C.
• the chocolate composition of the present invention will include both modified and unmodified fats. Indeed, the composition will always include a certain amount of unmodified cocoa butter. In the case of milk chocolate compositions, it will also typically include milk fat. Milk fat is generally used in the form of anhydrous milk fat or butteroil. Examples of other unmodified fats suitable for use in the present invention will be apparent to the skilled person and can include well-known cocoa butter equivalents, cocoa butter improvers, cocoa butter replacers, cocoa butter substitutes, and the fatty constituents of other ingredients such as hazelnut paste, for instance. Preferably, the unmodified fats will consist of cocoa butter and milk fat or of cocoa butter on its own.
• a chocolate composition having a fat phase consisting of interesterified cocoa hutter (which may also be fractionated), unmodified cocoa butter and, optionally, milk fat.
• the unmodified cocoa butter and interesterified cocoa butter will preferably be pre- sent in a weight ratio of 3:1 and should ideally account for 80 to 100% by weight of the total fat phase.
• the fat phase will preferably comprise:
• compositions of the present invention can also be used for the production of white chocolate and other chocolate products.
• the above ranges should not be construed as limiting for such applications.
• the chocolate composition of the present invention can be produced by any conventional method known to the skilled person. As described in the Background section of this specification, chocolate is traditionally produced by mixing a cocoa liquor with sugar and milk solids (in the case of milk chocolate) to form a cocoa mass, then adding cocoa butter and eventually lecithin and tempering until the desired characteristics of the end product are achieved. As would be expected, this method will be adapted according to the type of chocolate to be produced (e.g. white chocolate, enrobing chocolate, etc.). Compositions of the present invention can be produced using a process similar to any of these conventional methods. If only interesterified cocoa butter is being added, it may simply be mixed with the cocoa mass instead of the unmodified cocoa butter.
• fat composition e.g. a mixture of modified and unmodified cocoa butter
• they can be pre-mixed or introduced separately, in any order.
• milk fat e.g. a mixture of modified and unmodified cocoa butter
• it can either be added with, or separately from, the other milk solids.
• fat phase which includes cocoa butter from the cocoa liquor as well as added fats
• the sum of fats added to the liquor will be referred to herein as the "fat composition”.
• the resulting chocolate composition can either be stored or used directly, e.g. for the manufacture of tablets or bars or to produce, by way of illustration only, coatings, moulded chocolates, chocolate centres, pralines, chocolate shapes, chocolate chips, chocolate fillings and chocolate for fondue.
• These products will have increased heat stability when compared to chocolate compositions prepared with only unmodified cocoa butter, i.e. they will have improved hardness, improved form stability and a better resistance to fat bloom.
• they will also have the same or better sensory properties (e.g. taste, creaminess and mouth-feel) than a standard chocolate product made with unmodified cocoa butter.
• Cocoa butter from Cargill South America was interesterified using Lipozyme TL IM (Novozymes). 5 kg cocoa butter was heated to 70 0 C in a reaction vessel. 10O g enzyme (2%) were added and the mixture was stirred for 16 h at about 40 mbar. The product was isolated by filtration. During conversion, free fatty acid content increased from 2.1 % to 2.4-2.7%. The melting point (measured using the slip melting point method set out below) was found to have increased from 26 0 C to 42.5°C already after only 6 h.
• a descriptive triangle test was performed to ISO standards.
• the tested chocolates were: two identical Cargill African milk chocolate references and one chocolate produced with an interesterified cocoa butter.
• the cocoa butter used in all the chocolates and for interesterification was of the same origin.
• the compositions of these chocolates is set out in Table 1.
• 14 panelists were asked about their preference and a set of descriptors (including creamy mouthfeel, melting rate and break strength) was given from which they were asked to chose the most dominant one. Preference was asked for on the basis of appearance, odor, firmness and taste. 13 of the 14 panelists were able to identify the different sample and preferred it for its smoothness, creaminess and softness.
• compositions of the samples is set out in Table 2.
• Samples of chocolate were cut into pieces of the same size. Each sample was placed in a glass dish and put in a climate chamber equilibrated at 30 0 C and 40% relative humidity. The compositions of the samples is set out in Table 3.
• a number of sensory tests were carried out.
• a panel of 45 people was asked to evaluate the appearance, and in particular the gloss, of two milk chocolate tablets.
• Each panellist was asked to attribute a score out of ten to both products. Both A and B achieved an average score of 6.7 meaning that there was no significant difference in appearance between A and B.
• the same panel was asked to evaluate the mouth-feel (i.e. texture) of the two products. Again, the test was blind with each panellist being asked to attribute a score out of ten. In this test, both A and B achieved an average score of 7.0. There was thus no significant difference in mouth-feel between A and B.
• using interesterified cocoa butter allows an increase in heat and bloom stability and increased creaminess without any adverse effect on appearance or overall mouth feel.
• Dry cocoa butter is melted at 50-60 0 C and filtered while hot through a wad of cotton wool or a fluted filter.
• the liquid cocoa butter is cooled while stirring constantly until it assumes a pasty consistency.
• the time required may be quite different from one sample to the other.
• the inclusion of air bubbles should be avoided during this operation. In no case should seeding crystals (grated cocoa butter) be added.
• the beaker with the cocoa butter is then placed in a second water bath at 32- 33°C; the stirring is continued until the sample has the same temperature and changes to a liquid cream consistency, which takes about 30 minutes.
• cocoa butter which while still being fluid has a milky and creamy aspect, is poured into moulds tempered at 20-22 0 C (Napolitains); solidification is allowed to take place for at least 2 hours at room temperature (20-22 0 C).
• the cocoa butter is removed from the moulds and the melting points determined according to H. Fincke, as follows: b. Determination of the melting points
• thermometer with the two U-tubes into the inner water bath up til the lower part of the rubber tubing; the level of the inner water bath should also lie 1 cm below the level of the exterior water bath (see fig.2).
• the exterior water bath is slowly heated under continuous stirring. Care must be taken that the rise in temperature in the inner water bath does not exceed 1 0 C per minute up until 4 C C below the probable slip point of the sample to be analysed. The heating should be then be reduced so that the temperature of the inner bath in- creases by a maximum of 0.2°C per minute.
• the slip point is the temperature at which the fat columns visibly flow towards the bend in the tube.
• the temperature of the clear point is reached when the molten fat in the U-part of the tube is completely clear when viewed through a magnifying glass.
• Tempering Slowly cool the heated chocolate composition (e.g. coming in at 45 0 C) down to 28°C under high shear. Then slowly increase the temperature to 32°C to melt out any unstable crystal forms and to form the preferred crystal type.
• the chocolate composition is liquid and ready to mould. After moulding chocolate is put in a cooling tunnel at 8 0 C.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)
• Edible Oils And Fats (AREA)

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• 2008
  • 2008-03-12 EP EP11001595A patent/EP2335491A1/de not_active Withdrawn
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